Sleepover at Grandma's
by writerchic16
Summary: When in the midst of family chaos, what do the Walkers do? They play Nintendo Wii. Slightly AU between "Spring Broken" and "Missing"
1. Chapter 1

**Sleepover at Grandma's**

Summary: When in the midst of family chaos, what do the Walkers do? They play Nintendo Wii.

A/N: Well, my sister and I were playing _Hannah Montana: World Tour_ on Wii, before a new episode of _Brothers&Sisters_, so this was bound to happen. I figured it was somewhat appropriate, since Hannah Montana has been referenced on the show a couple of times (product placement much?).

Anyway, this happens shortly after "Spring Broken." I have attempted (then failed and abandoned) a B&S story once before, but I'm still a little shaky about characters and such.

* * *

Sarah ran through her house and gathered any random toys or other accessories she thought her kids would need, then shoved the item into Paige's hot pink backpack she was holding. There was a business conference for dot com companies this weekend, and Joe had some cousin's wedding to attend in another state. While she would back out, she hadn't wanted to miss out on the opportunity, so her mother offered to take the kids. Sarah couldn't be more grateful, but didn't feel too bad since she had a feeling her mother was looking forward to some quality grandchildren time as well. "Paige, Cooper! Get down here now! We're leaving for Grandma's house in five minutes!"

"But I need to find my PSP!"

"I don't care, Cooper!" Sarah insisted. "If you don't come down soon, I'm leaving without you!"

"I wish Uncle Tommy was still here! Then I could stay here with him!"

"You and me both, kid," Sarah muttered under her breath. The thought of her brother had her sitting down to a break at the dining room table. She went to rest her elbow on a book on a table, realized it was Paige's homework book, and threw that into the backpack as well.

Her busy household had been turned upside down since her…two… brothers returned from "Spring Break" in Baja. _How could I have been so stupid?_ She wondered for the hundredth time. "_Hey, Kevin, here's an idea – why don't you take our brother. who's facing criminal charges and convinced he's innocent, on a trip?"_In her defense, she hadn't been the one to come up with the bright idea of crossing the border. _Why didn't I suggest Disney Land?_Her only other consolation was that she'd had the best of intentions at heart. And that her mother still didn't know.

Yes, four days had passed since the guys got back, and their mother still didn't know. They'd told Kitty when she called, but they'd been too afraid to tell Nora, especially after what happened at "The Ryan Dinner" two weeks ago. They knew they had to tell her, but with everything else going on, they were afraid this would push her over the edge. So far, Nora had stayed out of Tommy's legal troubles because she already had Kitty and Ryan to worry about.

For the moment, they told her that Tommy had come back from Spring Break in no better mood, and was too busy working out things with his lawyers and trying to reach Julia to check in with her. She'd bought it…or at least, gave the impression of buying it…but they had a feeling sooner or later she'd demand to hear his voice, or else storm over to Sarah's house (where she'd been told he was still staying) herself.

With everything going on, Sarah was wondering how she would keep her head on straight enough to talk with business people at the conference this weekend. Because of recent developments she'd considered staying home. However, her previous insistence to go, combined with the kids already booked to stay at Grandma's, would surely raise Nora's suspicions to an all-time high.

At the sound of her kids bounding down the stairs, Sarah jumped up and gathered whatever junk she could find on the way to the living room. At the very least, her house wasn't a hotel anymore. While Tommy had gone on the lam, Justin had come back almost a new person. He'd been so refreshed that he insisted that he was well enough to stay in his own apartment.

On a side note, Sarah had her suspicions that something was…off about Justin. Not wrong, just _different_. He had some big secret, she was sure of that.

But she'd leave it alone for the moment. She was too frazzled by everything else going on to create more unnecessary drama for herself.

"Kids, you ready? I told Grandma you'd be there in time for dinner!" Sarah shouted. Of course, her mother had insisted on making dinner for the kids. Sarah didn't mind at all – it gave her less of a hassle before she caught her flight to New York.

Which was leaving in four hours, since she'd taken the later flight. Because travel rules said to be at the airport two hours beforehand, she only had two hours to drop the kids off and get to the airport.

Paige and Cooper reached the bottom of the stairs, their arms and pockets filled with every last toy or technical gadget they would need for the next two days. Paige whined, "Mom, I can't find my –"

"Pink backpack?" Sarah replied and held up the offending object.. "How many times have I told you not to leave it in the living room when you get home from school?"

"Sorry," Paige grumbled as she struggled to keep her belongings in her arms on her way to her mother. She then dumped her armload in the backpack…which was half-full. "Hey! What's Cooper's junk doing in here?"

"It was the only bag _lying around_," Sarah replied, to which Paige sulked and went back to stand back by her brother. At Paige's movement, something stuck out of her backpack. "Oh, Paige, you're bringing your Nintendo Wii?" Sarah chided. One of Joe's wealthy relatives had bought it for them for Christmas. "Don't bring that, you'll get it all scratched up on the way there."

Paige gave her mother a pleading look. "Please, Mom? I want to play _Hannah Montana: World Tour_ with Grandma!"

"Grandma won't want to play that. She'll want to play _Mario Kart_ with me!" Cooper insisted as he pointed to the game among the items in his hand.

Sarah couldn't help but laugh. The mental picture of her mother playing either game was too funny. For that reason alone, she agreed, "Alright, you can bring it. But if I hear that you two fought over it _once_, it stays home from now on, got it?"

"Got it," the kids muttered in unison on their way out the door.

* * *

"Don't leave anything in the backseat," Sarah warned as they pulled up to Nora's house. In the rearview mirror, she could see her kids frantically getting together their various backpacks and other items. "Otherwise it'll spend the weekend in the car in the driveway." She was planning on using her own car to drop off the kids, then take a cab to the airport.

In about three minutes the kids had all of their belongings and got out of the car. Sarah walked up with them to the front door…only to have Nora open it before she could ring the bell. "There you are!" Nora exclaimed. She hugged each of her grandchildren as they came into the foyer. "Guess what we're having for dinner?"

"McDonald's?" Cooper asked hopefully. Sarah tried not to give the kids fast food for dinner too often.

Nora laughed. "Of course not – I knew you were coming, so I made macaroni and cheese!"

"The box kind?" Paige replied.

"No, not the box kind. This is much better, you'll see," Nora added the last part quickly at her grandchildren's doubtful looks.. "Now, why don't you two run upstairs and drop off all that stuff?"

While Cooper ran ahead, Paige paused and looked up at her grandmother. "I brought my _Hannah Montana_ game. Will you play it on Wii with me?"

"Will I play _what_?" Nora asked in confusion.

"Nintendo Wii. It's a video game system, Mom," Sarah explained, a smile on her face. It was very hard not to laugh at her mother's predicament. "Like the Super Nintendo Tommy had."

Nora nodded in understanding. "Oh, yeah, I remember that! I was good at that game where you had to make the little Italian man jump over holes in the ground."

When Paige stared in pure bewilderment, Sarah couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Trust me, Super Mario has come a long way since the '80s."

"They _had_ Super Mario back then? Wow," Paige replied, only half-joking. When her mother and grandmother made it clear that they weren't amused, she gave them a weak smile and bolted upstairs after her brother.

Sarah shook her head. "As for game playing tips, I suggest having an ice pack and plenty of aspirin on hand."

"Duly noted," Nora replied with a laugh. She began to walk into the kitchen and invited Sarah to follow. "Do you have some time before your flight? Did you eat?"

As she followed her mother, she checked her watch. "I guess I could sit for a few minutes," Sarah agreed while they entered the kitchen. Truth be told, she had been planning on getting some food court crap at the airport, so if her mother happened to have any _actual_ food lying around, she wouldn't say no. "And not really, I was going to…"

Sarah trailed off when she reached the kitchen entryway. Much to her surprise, Justin sat at the island, a pile of papers in his hand. He was looking at them so intently that he didn't even notice her entrance. "Hey, Justin, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, jeez!" Justin exclaimed and jumped off the stool. "Don't you knock…at the kitchen door…" The stack of papers went behind his back, then he began to back out of the kitchen through the back door.

But Sarah pounced on him. "Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed. Her curiosity of what he could be hiding from her at an all-time peak, she raced across the kitchen and snatched the papers from his grasp before he could even blink.

Frustrated, Justin tried to grab the papers back while she read them. "Come on, give those back! You have no right to…"

"Oh my God…" Sarah said in a near-whisper as she glanced at her brother and mother for confirmation. "These are medical school applications."

"He came over for help rewriting his essay," Nora explained with an apologetic look at her son. It was clear that in her effort to give her daughter dinner, she'd forgotten that her soon needed privacy.

When Sarah's gaze shifted back to him, Justin nodded. "I want to be a doctor."

Sarah gaped at both of them while she took in the situation. _Justin_ was going to med school? _Justin_? Once she took a couple of seconds to work through the surprise, she found that she was…_relieved_. After all the trauma he went through when he was a soldier, then drug addiction, and most recently his break up with Rebecca…it was so comforting to hear that Justin was figuring out his life. "That's…that's amazing! I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed, then wrapped her brother in a congratulatory hug.

"Really? You don't think it's stupid?" Justin asked as he hugged her back, relieved by her unexpected reaction.

"No, of course not!" Sarah assured him when they broke apart. "After everything you've been through, it's about time you did something like this. You deserve this and I know you can do it if you set your mind to it."

"Thanks, Sarah," Justin replied.

His recent trip with Tommy and Kevin in mind, Sarah asked, "So does everyone know?"

"Just Kitty doesn't, I haven't really talked to her lately," Justin explained. "But I told Kevin, and then he blabbed it to Tommy."

"Yeah. Have either of you talked to Tommy this week? I've been calling him constantly and he hasn't called back _once_," Nora ranted, her temper spiked at the mention of him

Sarah and Justin traded worried glances, then quickly looked away. "No, uh, he's just really busy. You know, I'm going to go check on the kids," Sarah said, then made a bee-line for the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Alright, I rewatched the latest episode, Missing, and apparently this is going to have to be a little AU. I'll pretend the first scene never happens, and this just takes place in between Spring Broken and Missing.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

After his sister left for the airport, Justin was…elated. He had expected at least some family members to object to his decision. True, Tommy laughed at him, but that was for a split second when he didn't think Kevin was serious. He knew his mother and Kevin would be supportive. Like Tommy had reacted, Justin feared that Sarah would think he was nuts, so her reaction had definitely been a boost to his fragile ego. All who was left was Kitty, and he was then sure that she would get behind him also.

"This is really good, Mom," Justin complimented as he dug into his huge bowl of elbow macaroni and cheese. He was sitting at the kitchen island with his niece, nephew and mother, and all were enjoying the meal.

Cooper, who didn't notice the bits of orange pasta stuck to his chin, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Grandma, it's yummy."

"Aw, thanks," Nora replied, then shook her head and went for her grandson's chin with her napkin. "Cooper, turn this way and let me clean you up."

Cooper whined, "But I'm not done yet!" At Nora's insistent look, he turned his chin toward her anyway.

After some silence, Paige spoke up, "I'm glad you're feeling better, Uncle Justin."

"What made you think I wasn't feeling well?" Justin asked in confusion. While he'd been an emotional mess when he'd stayed at Sarah's, he'd tried hard not to let his distress show in front of his niece and nephew.

"Well, when you moved in, Mom said you were because you were too sad to be alone in your apartment," Paige explained.

At that, Justin paused, not sure how to take his sister's explanation. While he didn't think just "sad" was an appropriate word to cover everything he was going through, he had to acknowledge that there was no better way to explain it to a child. And Sarah _had_ to give some explanation for why he was there, especially with Tommy already sleeping on the couch. "Oh," he finally replied, while his mother sat next to him in silence, touched by Paige's words. "I…I guess she was right. Thanks, Paige, I am much better now."

"That's good," Paige continued. "And I'm glad Uncle Tommy decided to stay in Mexico. He looked like he needed a vacation."

Oh. Crap.

Justin almost choked on his macaroni..

Meanwhile, Nora sat there in shock as she worked out her granddaughter's words in her head. "Oh…my…God. Tommy's on the lam!" she whispered when it clicked.

Alarm bells were going off in Justin's head. _Get out of the room. Get out of the room _now. _Don't just stand there you idiot, run!_

But his protective instinct took over and he began to rush the kids out of the room instead. "Hey, guys, why don't you finish your dinner upstairs?" he urged as he pulled them off their stools and shoved their bowls of macaroni in their hands.

"What does 'on the lam' mean?" Cooper asked. "And Grandma says we're not allowed to eat upstairs!"

Justin chose to ignore Cooper's first question and instead answered, "It's just for this one time, okay? Grandma and I _really_ need to talk about something."

"Is it because I said Uncle Tommy was in Mexico?" Paige replied, concern in her voice. "I'm sorry, it's just that I heard you and Mommy talking…"

"No, no, everything's fine…but get out of here," Justin urged, as if the place might explode. The comparison wasn't far from truth given his mother's verging temper.

The kids rushed from the room, confused but generally uncaring about the situation, much to Justin's relief. Once they were gone, he took a few deep, calming breaths as he gathered all his courage to face his mother. Alone.

"Well, now that you've 'cleared the area,'" Nora remarked with sarcasm at Justin's perhaps exaggerated precautions. "I'd like an explanation."

After he'd let out one final deep breath, Justin turned around. His mother stood next to the island, her arms crossed. Her face registered a mixture of emotions…anger, disappointment, but mostly concern. Justin knew that while of course she would be angry at Tommy for being so incredibly stupid, he also knew that she would be worried for his physical and emotional well-being.

And that was why Justin was furious at Tommy also. How could his older brother do this, and only leave a couple of notes to excuse his total abandonment of his family and responsibilities?

"He said he was going to take the plea," Justin began. He paused to swallow, to push down the swelling emotions of anger and remorse. "We believed him. The next morning, by the time we went to wake him up, he'd already left."

There was silence, then Nora asked, "Do you have any idea where he could be?"

"No idea, he hasn't been calling," Justin answered. "Kevin said he'd ask around, see who of Tommy's friends might have vacation houses in Mexico. We don't think he'd leave Mexico, but it's a possibility. He has his passport."

"'So you, Kevin…who else knew before I did?" Nora asked as her anger at not being told shifted to the forefront of her emotions.

_Uh oh,_ Justin thought. He'd been hoping, somewhat selfishly, that she would direct her anger at absentee Tommy. "Sarah…and Kitty…" he mumbled. Kitty had stopped by Sarah's during the week to find her three remaining siblings in chaos.

"_You all knew?_" Nora shrieked, a loud exclamation that made Justin's eyes widen in surprise. "First you don't tell me about Tommy's legal troubles, and now this? _I am not a child!_ I do not need to be shielded from the hardships in this family, do you understand?"

Justin could do nothing else but straighten up and answer, "Yes, ma'am."

"Grandma?"

_Thank God,_ Justin thought at Paige's interruption. He watched in amazement as Nora managed to control her anger and turn to her granddaughter. "Yes, sweetie?" she asked.

Paige stepped into the kitchen with trepidation, her and Cooper's empty bowls in her hands. Even the eleven-year-old noticed the remarkable amount of tenseness in the air. "Cooper and I are done with dinner, and were wondering if we could set up the Wii in the living room."

While it was clear that Nora had no idea what "setting up the Wii" entailed, she took the bowls from Paige and nodded. "Yes, just be careful."

"Are you and Uncle Justin going to play with us?" Paige asked.

Justin knew he could get past the tense moment and play some video games, but he had no idea about his mother's emotional state right then. He wasn't surprised when Nora simply replied, "We'll see. Maybe later."

Disappointed, Paige nodded and left.

When his mother went to put the kids' dinner bowls in the dishwasher, Justin waited for her to finish and continue their discussion from before. But after the dishes had been rinsed off and put in the dishwasher, and she still didn't say anything, he took it as his cue to escape. "I-I'm…I'm going to go watch the kids," he explained as he moved toward the door. She paused at the sink, the only sign she was listening. "Y-you know…video game systems have those wires, so…yeah."

And he left.

* * *

Kitty pulled up to the front of her mother's house and parked. When the car had been turned off, she put her head on the steering wheel and sighed, already exhausted at the mere thought of the emotional mayhem that was going on in that house.

While normally on Friday nights she would be with Robert, she had gotten an emergency text from Justin shortly after dinner:

MOM KNOWS

HELP!

COME ASAP!

It was hard to ignore a text like that.

Of course Kitty knew what he meant. Somehow her mother found out that Tommy had gone on the lam.

Crap.

She knew the moment had to come eventually. Kitty had just been hoping it was when she was far, far away. Like another country.

Kitty winced at the thought. _That was a little tasteless, wasn't it?_

Of course Robert had rolled his eyes at the family drama, but insisted that she go. Kitty had been hesitant since she wanted to stay with Evan, and didn't want to drive at night with him. Robert suggested that she leave him with Evan, to give them some father-son bonding time. Though Kitty was reluctant to leave her baby, she had to admit to herself that Robert could definitely benefit from some alone time with his son.

So here she was, about to go into a war zone while her husband, who was still recovering from a heart attack, attempted to take care of her baby. Great.

This had to be the quickest rescue mission in the history of family rescue missions.

After one more deep sigh, Kitty grabbed her purse and got out of the car. Before she could walk up to the house, however, she saw Kevin running from his parking spot across the street. "Hey, sis," he said as he hugged her in greeting. "I take it you got the APB?"

"Yup. Robert's watching the baby. I'm a nervous wreck," Kitty admitted.

"Well, if it's any comfort," Kevin said as they began to walk up to the front door. "Soon enough you'll be too wrapped up in emotional drama to even worry about Robert."

Kitty gave a half-hearted laugh. "That's supposed to be comforting?"

"It's what I could come up with. I'll think of something better when I'm tuning Mom out. You know, that time when her voice gets too high pitched and only dogs can hear her," Kevin joked.

Though he was kidding, Kitty winced in anticipation. She knew what he was talking about. They all did. "Looking forward to it," she replied.

Then she gathered her courage and rang the doorbell.

Justin opened it a second later. "You're here! You're really here!" he exclaimed, then gave his sister a bone-crushing hug.

"Whoa, hey Justin, glad to see you too," Kitty replied as she glanced sideways at Kevin, who had a look of dread on his face. If Justin was like this, it must be bad.

When Justin finally let her go, Kitty put her hands on his shoulders and asked, "What's going on? How's she taking it?"

"I don't know!" Justin explained. "She's giving me the freeze out! She hasn't spoken a word to me since she found out!"

Kevin put a hand to his forehead. "Oh boy. The silent treatment. That's bad."

"I know!" Justin exclaimed, near-panic.

"How did this happen?" Kitty asked, in an attempt to grasp the situation. Her mother responded to different crisis in different ways If they could figure out what was going on in her head, they had a shot.

"Your favorite niece and mine, Paige," Justin replied, resentment in his voice. "The little blabbermouth spilled it at dinner. After the kids went upstairs, I told her what happened and she went on this rant about how we can't protect her from every bad thing that happens. Paige interrupted, and Mom…didn't pick up where she left off."

After a second, Kevin said, "Oh yeah, I forgot Sarah had that conference this weekend."

"Lucky bitch," Kitty muttered. Kevin and Justin nodded in agreement. "So, what's going on now?"

Justin sighed. "The kids brought over their Nintendo Wii and I helped set it up, and we started playing. They asked Mom to play and…she's been making up excuses to do chores around the house ever since. It's like she doesn't even want to be in the same room with me."

"Don't worry, brother, we're here for you," Kevin said as he put a reassuring hand on Justin's shoulder.

Justin let out deep, steadying breaths. "That's good, that's good."

"_Relax_. Mom's just in shock right now. She's going to be fine," Kitty tried to assure him. Before they could accuse her of lying through her teeth, Kitty braced herself and headed into the house. "Come on, let's get this over with."


End file.
